Understanding life through unwanted childlessness: Ethnography and fiction from Ghana, Bangladesh and 'dystopia' (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

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van der Geest, Sjaak and Nahar, Papreen (2013) Understanding life through unwanted childlessness: Ethnography and fiction from Ghana, Bangladesh and 'dystopia' (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate). Anthropology Today, 29 (3). pp. 3-7. ISSN 0268-540X

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Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic work in Ghana and Bangladesh, and on a British dystopian novel, we sketch the social, emotional, and existential consequences of childlessness for women who desperately want a child, as is still common in the two countries where the authors carried out research. For these women, childlessness leads to loneliness and a sense of uselessness. Underlying these emotions is the notion that children constitute and personify continuity; childlessness thus stands for the discontinuation of life.

Item Type: Article
Schools and Departments: Brighton and Sussex Medical School > Global Health and Infection
SWORD Depositor: Mx Elements Account
Depositing User: Mx Elements Account
Date Deposited: 23 Sep 2022 08:31
Last Modified: 26 Sep 2022 12:43
URI: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/108077

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